Fr. Jose Funes S.J., director of the Vatican Observatory
Posted on 11/10/2009 3:15:25 PM PST by NYer
.- The Vatican Observatory and the Pontifical Academy of Sciences have just concluded a week-long gathering of scientists to examine the origin of life and the possibility of extraterrestrial life. “These questions offer many philosophical and theological implications,” said Fr. Jose Funes, director of the Vatican Observatory.
After bringing their Nov. 6-10 talks to a close, four of the scientists held a press conference at the Holy See's press office on Tuesday.
Participating in the press conference were Fr. Jose Funes S.J., director of the Vatican Observatory; Jonathan Lunine, professor at the department of physics in Rome's Tor Vergata University; Chris Impey, professor at the department of astronomy in the University of Arizona and the Steward Observatory, Tucson, U.S.A., and Athena Coustenis, professor at the "Observatoire de Paris-Meudon", LESIA/CNRS, France.
Fr. Funes began his remarks by answering the question, "Why is the Vatican involved in astrobiology?"
Noting that the Vatican also discussed astrobiology in 2005, Fr. Funes stated that despite the field's newness, “the questions of life's origins and of whether life exists elsewhere in the universe are very interesting and deserve serious consideration.
“These questions offer many philosophical and theological implications," the priest-scientist explained.
Professor Lunine went into further detail about the emerging field of astrobiology, defining it as “the study of life's relationship to the rest of the cosmos: its major themes include the origin of life and its precursor materials, the evolution of life on earth, and its future prospects on and off the earth.”
The Italian physics professor also explained the fruit of the study week.
“The study week provided a special opportunity for scientists from different basic disciplines to spend an intensive week understanding how the work in their particular specialty might have an impact on, or be impacted by, that in other areas. Nowhere is this more evident than in the work being done on how life formed on the earth and evolved with the changing environment," Professor Lunine said.
American professor Chris Impey reflected on the implications of an encounter with an intelligent life form, saying, "if biology is not unique to the earth, or if life elsewhere differs bio-chemically from our version, or if we ever make contact with an intelligent species in the vastness of space, the implications for our self-image will be profound.”
“It is appropriate that a meeting on this frontier topic be hosted by the Pontifical Academy of Sciences. The motivations and methodologies might differ, but both science and religion posit life as a special outcome of a vast and mostly inhospitable universe. There is a rich middle ground for dialogue between the practitioners of astrobiology and those who seek to understand the meaning of our existence in a biological universe,” Impey added.
The press conference came to a close with remarks from Prof. Athena Coustenis on the subject of the exploration of outer planets and their systems, with a particular concentration on the two Saturn moons Titan and Enceladus.
I don’t see any problem.
God created the entire universe.
Why didn’t Jesus stay on earth? Well he is a busy guy and he had to go save souls in Alpha Centari then move on to Sirius.....
Jesus didn’t ascend into Heaven. He ascended into the Heavens to start his next mission....
Libs are gleeful about this, they think it’ll make ‘our little world’ implode. But then, Libs are mostly fools, so who cares what they think.
Even if the Drake Equation is waaaay off, it still yields huge numbers of potential civilizations. I have seen nothing that I’d call convincing evidence that we’ve been visited by such, but I wouldn’t be surprised in the least if our civilization turned out not to be as unique as we sometimes think it is.
If I were a bettin’ man, I’d put a shiny nickel down on there being a whole passel of different kinds of folks out there. Whether or not we bump into them, is another matter.
Actually that’s always been my hope for what heaven is, the ability to go and be anywhere in the universe.
For me its hard to understand how anyone can look at the stars and not believe in God.
Uh....so what? Will we never get over ourselves and realize that we are not even a microscopic speck in the Universe? Oh, how we’ve exaggerated our relevance.
In space, and time; to know the unknown- to have all of the unanswered questions answered. There'd be a fulfillment in that, that I would most appreciate.
Things have been jumping around the pope scope in Arizona...
I maybe called crazy but I have long believed in the possibility of outer space civilizations as well as Parallel universes etc
if you considerer the omnipotence of God then the possibilities are endless
I'd be more surprised as well as disappointed if there was nothing out there at all
I'd be more surprised as well as disappointed if there was nothing out there at all
Indeed.
I've been following the discovery and examination of exo-solar planets with some interest- a lot is happening with that these days.
“The Universe” is on tonight On the History channel. 9 eastern I believe. Its must see TV if you like space.
One of the better history channel series in my opinion.
Did I miss something? As far as I am aware there are no alien life forms so the theological implications are moot. I want others to explain what the theological implications are of finding no alien life forms. They would be about the same as not finding a missing link I might imagine. Ah but they are still looking!
Mel
9:00 is too late for me, I’m afraid. I get up at around 4:00 AM. I love that kind of thing, though.
Anyone who having casually read the bible either in part or in its entirety knows it if full of examples of extraterrestrial life.
It'll rock this tiny planet like nothing else.
Will we never get over ourselves and realize that we are not even a microscopic speck in the Universe?
Oh, how we’ve exaggerated our relevance.
I could not have described that better...
Sola scriptura types still believe that the only intelligent life is on Earth. If we find any intelligent life anywhere else in the universe they will claim it is demons or trickery of the Anti-christ.
So yes, there are some among us who live in a small world which will indeed implode.
My "self image" won't be affected one way or another. I am made in the image and likeness of God. Whether He created others in His image, He hasn't chosen to let me know yet.
Yet another click and wait and wait and wait and wait day at F.R.
Reminds me some what of when I had dial up only dial up was faster.
Participating in the press conference were Fr. Jose Funes S.J., director of the Vatican Observatory; Jonathan Lunine, professor at the department of physics in Rome's Tor Vergata University; Chris Impey, professor at the department of astronomy in the University of Arizona and the Steward Observatory, Tucson, U.S.A., and Athena Coustenis, professor at the "Observatoire de Paris-Meudon", LESIA/CNRS, France.
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